One
of the left’s favourite claims made to justify immigration is that it benefits
the economy. The truth, however, is, as usual, very different.

A
recent study by Norway’s national statistics office (SSB) found that
immigration has cost the country at least 71 billion kroner (£7.8 billion) over
the last seven years.

This
amounts to what the SSB calls a ‘tax’ of £3,100 for every working Norwegian
citizen.

But
the true total is estimated to be much higher.

According
to the SSB’s report, because the 246,000 net immigrants who have come to Norway
since 2005 also have a right to state benefits, they will eventually cost a
staggering £42 billion more than they will pay in taxes, given that the welfare
and tax system remains unchanged.

Economist
Erling Holmøy, a senior researcher at SSB, said: ‘The cost is borne by the
average Norwegian through taxes, or through reduced quality or capacity of a
variety of welfare services, including health and education.’

The Norwegian newspaper Finansavisen simply stated that the report ‘crushes the myth that immigration is profitable’.

Good immigration and bad
immigration

Nick
Clegg once said ‘there is good immigration and bad immigration’, and, according
to the statistics, he was right.

The
SSB’s figures show that every ‘non-Western’ immigrant who settles in Norway
costs the country an average of £450,000 over his lifetime.

East
European immigrants also negatively affect the economy, costing £89,000 each.

But
‘Western’ immigrants actually do contribute to the host country’s finances,
adding approximately £89,000 per person.

So
in other words, Western (i.e. white) immigration is good, whereas Third World (non-white)
immigration is bad. Terrible, in fact.

The
SSB underlines some of the reasons for this disparity. It says that:

1.Non-Western immigrants do not remain in employment for as long as other groups

2.Those of them who do work contribute less tax

3.They receive more benefits and other state assistance than other demographics

4.They have more children

5.They are more likely to remain in the country permanently than other immigrants are.

The
SSB also lists the employment rates of the various ethnicities resident in Norway.
Bottom of the list for 2011 are Somalia, Eritrea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan
and Morocco. All six ethnicities have an employment rate of below 50 per cent,
with an average of 41 per cent.

The
percentages drop even more amongst women. Somalian women, for example, have an
employment rate of just 23 per cent, compared with the femaleethnic Norwegian level of 68 per cent.

If
we were to apply the Norwegian calculations to the United Kingdom, a very rough
estimate of the cost of non-white immigration into the country amounts to a
staggering £115 billion every year.

Maybe
it’s time our government followed Norway’s lead and told us the true cost of
immigration, instead of just repeating the clearly baseless lie that it’s
‘vital for Britain’s economy’.